Beauty and the Wilderness
by SssuperB
Summary: Takes place sometime in season 2. Derek and Addison have worked things out. An unfortunate gamble leads to Addison's first fishing experience.


**A/N: **I'm back to posting old stuff that I've written which have never made it here to FF. I hope you all enjoy this piece. It's been a while since I've written it, but I recall that it was a fun write. R&R is always appreciated. Enjoy!

"I hate you, Derek. Hate hate!" Addison called after her husband ten feet in front of her as she carefully maneuvered her way down the hill, crisscrossing through the trees and shrubbery. It was difficult walking in these bulky boots that he had her in.

"I love you too, honey," he said over his shoulder with a beaming grin, continuing to lead the way towards the stream.

She grumbled as she almost tripped over her own foot, catching herself on the trunk of a tree, "I can't believe I let you convince me into agreeing to this."

"I didn't have to do much convincing," he chuckled, turning around and stopping to wait for her to catch up, "You were just so confident that you were going to win the bet that you would have agreed to anything, which by the way, wasn't the smartest move. I still can't believe you bet that Mark wouldn't bed Meredith eventually."

Addison made her way down to where he was standing, huffing and wanting to wipe that annoyingly smug grin off his face, "Well, I'm sorry I had faith in Mark that he wouldn't try sleeping with someone you'd been involved with again, and then thinking that Meredith wouldn't be stupid enough to sleep with another attending."

"You really don't know them very well, do you?" Derek asked with a small laugh, leaning in to kiss her cheek. She continued to pout, and he shook his head, "Come on, it isn't that bad, is it? You get to spend time with me."

She glared at his hopeful eyes, clenching her teeth slightly and pulling on the straps to her small backpack, "It's three in the morning. I'm not wearing any make up, and you've got me dressed up like I'm one of your flannel-wearing, wood-chopping fisherman friends. Are you really going to ask me that this isn't that bad?"

"I love you?" he offered hopefully.

"Yeah, you'd better."

He chuckled again and motioned his arm holding the tackle box forward, "Come on, it's not that much further."

Sighing, Addison glanced at her surroundings. The trees were rustling and the bugs were still chirping. She'd never imagined herself being this far in the wilderness. Living in the trailer in the middle of the woods was one thing, but trekking through the vast amounts of mud and dirt just wasn't something for Addison Forbes Montgomery Shepherd. She looked to the sky and wished that Derek would just catch a fish soon so she could go back to bed.

~xXxXxXxXxXx~

_Derek's arms wrapped around her waist in bed and began to kiss her softly, slowly bringing her to consciousness. "Rise and shine, Addie," he said, pulling the comforter off of them and sitting himself up in bed._

"_Please, God no," Addison groaned into her pillow, curling up into a fetal position as the cold Seattle air hit her bare legs and arms, the only thing shielding her body was her skimpy silk nightgown._

_He tugged on her hands and pulled her up into a sitting position as well, his legs swinging over the edge of their bed. He went into the closet and started to pull out garments for them to wear, glancing over at Addison who was squinting her eyes. "It's time to go fishing," he said excitedly._

"_Couldn't we just stay here?"_

_Shaking his head, he tossed her the pair of jeans he'd gotten for her, "No."_

_Addison picked up the flannel shirt he'd thrown onto the bed for her to wear and wrinkled her nose, "Seriously, Derek, why fishing? Why couldn't you have just asked for a day of sex? I could definitely agree to some early morning sex right about now."_

"_Because, honey," he pressed a fleeting kiss to her pouted lips, "Fishing is fun—and relaxing."_

"_Sex is fun and relaxing," she offered, prepared to say anything to get her out of going fishing._

_Derek laughed as he pulled on his vest, "But we never do anything together anymore, just the two of us. With fishing we can spend some nice quality time together."_

"_What better way to spend quality time together than by making love to your wife?"_

"_Just put on the fishing gear I got for you, Add," he said, cupping her cheek briefly, "You'll thank me later when you're not wandering the woods in designer shoes."_

_Addison rolled her eyes, "The only thing I could possibly be thanking you for today is this cute hat." Putting it on her head, she then pulled the straps of her nightgown off her shoulders and began to get dressed._

"_Well, at least it's something, I guess," Derek smirked, stepping into the bathroom._

_She let out a sigh and pulled on the heavy pair of jeans. None of this seemed appealing, and she was sure to hate every minute of it. He was right, though; they were able to spend some time together. Everything had been looking up now that they'd worked things out between them, but she still could not warm up completely to this rugged life of his._

_Moments later, he came back out with a toothbrush in hand, working the bristles against his teeth. "The sex, though," he said, pulling it out of his mouth, "I can take the offer up later, right?"_

_Grumbling, Addison threw her pillow at him as he laughed heartily and ducked back into their tiny bathroom._

~xXxXxXxXxXx~

After making their way through the woods, Derek and Addison finally made it to the waterfront. He set down his fishing tackle box and started to set up, getting their fishing poles ready. Addison watched him from a few feet away, looking down to look at the water sloshing against her boots. Maybe he was right about thanking him for not letting her wear designer shoes out here. She just planned on doing it silently.

"Time to bait your hook, Addie," he said, coming at her and holding out his hands.

She shrieked at the sight of the grotesque looking creature in his right hand and jumped back a couple of inches, "I am NOT touching _that_."

He laughed at how her face contorted into the most disgusted face he'd ever seen on her before, "It's just a night crawler, a dead one at that. It's not going to hurt you, I promise."

"I don't care. I'm not touching that—that thing."

"It'll only take thirty seconds tops," Derek said, taking a step closer towards her.

"Derek!" she screamed, scurrying backwards a couple of steps. "I am this close," she held her thumb and pointer finger a small distance apart, "from turning around and running back to the trailer." That wasn't the complete truth, only because she had no idea how they'd gotten here and would only end up lost in the woods, which was the last thing she needed.

"Okay. Okay," he finally conceded, "I'll bait the hooks, but then we're fishing."

"Then we're fishing," Addison murmured quietly, watching him carefully but then closing her eyes once he'd poked the hook through the night crawler. She may have been a surgeon and was fine at the sight of blood, but bugs just weren't something she'd want to handle.

A few moments later, she felt him wrap an arm around her and she opened her eyes, seeing the two fishing poles in his other hand and the dreamy smile across his face, "Ready to do your first cast?"

She smiled and nodded, forgetting about how cold and uncomfortable she was now that she was right next to him. "Ready," she whispered softly.

"Okay," he set his fishing pole down and stepped around behind her, putting his hands on hers to guide her fingers around her fishing pole, "You're going to want to hold it tight like that and put your finger there after you've flipped the bail."

Addison looked at his hands expertly placing her fingers where they needed to be, leaning back against his chest and relishing in the warmth she found there. "Um, okay," she said finally after he'd finished using all of that fisherman jargon that seemed to go in through one ear and out the other.

Laughing softly, he turned her a little and brought her arm back, "Now, bring the pole off to the side and swing forward, but don't forget to lift your finger that's pressing down on the line."

"And what if that—worm thing hits me in the face?"

He grinned, "Don't worry. I won't let that happen."

She nodded skeptically before bringing the rod back and swinging it forward as Derek had shown her, executing a near perfect cast.

"See, Addie, you're a natural," he beamed, proud of his wife and first fishing student, "Now do you want to reel it in and practice casting again?"

Addison cocked her eyebrow at him and slowly shook her head with a smirk, "I don't think I'm going to die from anticipation if I never get to cast again, Derek."

"Suit yourself, honey," he said amusedly before casting his own line out into the water.

A few minutes of silence pass by, and she glanced over at him, "So…now what?"

"Now we wait."

"We wait? For how long?" she asked incredulously, already back to hating being out here again.

"As long as it takes for a fish to bite," Derek answered, "And it helps if you're quiet."

"What if I don't want to be quiet?"

"Then the fish won't bite," he said, bringing a finger up to his lips, "So shhh."

She hissed back a quiet "fine" and then tried to settle back and get comfortable, although that was very difficult seeing as how she was balancing herself on some rocks and the water serving it's slippery purpose. Minutes that felt like hours passed by, and Addison was getting bored of this. She couldn't understand what was so appealing about standing out here with a stick in hand and waiting for a fish to bite on the hook.

Glancing over at Derek, he seemed so content; she just didn't get it. It was obvious, though, that it did make him happy, so she was willing to put up with it for at least today. She just wasn't about to give him an easy time about it.

"Hey, Derek," she called, kicking some water at him after he'd turned around.

Derek gasped and his jaw fell agape, "You didn't…"

"I think I just did," she laughed softly.

"Oh, now you're going to get it," he started to kick water at her, even bending down to splash her with one hand as the other held onto his fishing pole. She laughed and ran around, trying to dodge everything as best she could.

They spent the rest of the morning completely content, although they came back empty handed, not having been able to catch any fish. It didn't bother either of them too much, though, because she let him take her up on that sex she offered that morning, each having the quality time they'd wanted.


End file.
